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3 t . A ncved psychologist analyzes n.s mental patterns of Europe’s strongest strong men™ F Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Joseph Stalin had been, or even now could be examined as cases X, Y and Z in a psychiatric clinic, would we have a better under- standing of their personalities, views and behavior? J think so. Such an analysis, if candid and cooperative, would be free of the footlight glamor which colors journalistic interviews of Europe’s strongest but not other- “wise notable men in power. As clinical revelation is out of the question, how- ever, a speculative long-distance analy- sis, documented merely by the dic- tators’ public utterances and political actions, is the only substitute offered us. It is possible that, even so handi- capped, we may approach an authentic psychological interpretation. ’ Adolf Hitler is commonly referred to as the madman of Europe. This des- . ignation is apt, for no sane man could Jexhibit the composite characteristics of the German Fuehrer. Benito Musso- lini and Joseph Stalin, too, have been described as mad by some observers. How far do these dictators qualify for a fair degree of sanity? How far do they approach the psychopathic? The case of Hitler is by far the most clear-cut. The clue to his mental con- dition lies in paranoia, which has been described by Dr. F. A. Moss as “a constitutional, and so far incurable, mental disorder—causes unknown. Owing to their lack of deterioration acs are often able to accomplish un- usual things in life; they are often good organizers.” . Paranoia is formal Greek for in- formal American “off onc’s base.” The typical paranoiac is an individualist, aman who “goes it alone.” With rare exceptions, paranoiacs are disturbing and undesirable citizens. The world can assimilate a fair number of them without constant dread of their upset- ting the organized schedule of the human scene. The'man possessing a partial and tempered paranoiac make-up is called a anoid by psychologists. Many ee and to their untiring energy, paranoi-- By JOSEPH HASTROW ——es et Te agers se ae . varieties of minds fall into this cate- gory. The paranoid may be an aggres- sive individual, with an absorbing, compulsive, unbalanced desire to im- press his personality upon his fellow- men regardless of means, reckless of consequence. Or he may be withdraw- ing and secretive of nature, beset by delusions, yet relatively innocent and socially inconsequent. : I. A full-fledged paranoiac, the psychologist often finds present all three factors of the paranoid complex. The first factor is hypertrophy of the ego—in Greek, megalomania, in American, “swelled head.”. Unlike the delusions of grandeur that appear in other mental disorders and develop imperial Napoleons and royal Vic- forias resigned to menial tasks, the aggressive paranciac has the urge to translate his self-inflation into practice, and may become vidlent if balked. A second iach & grievance, sonfe rankling hurt Which keeps the ego irritated, making it fee] wronged. Delusibns of persecution may readily develop. According to Alfred Adler, the compensation for a blasting sense of inferiority induces the assumption of exceptional euperiority. The third factor is a scheme of re- form, which may take one of as many forms as there are interests in life. Crack-brained cultists, including occul- tists, wild redeemers, social panace- ists, even perpetual motion machine ‘inventors, are of the paranoid family or persuasion—most of them of a harmless type. When a person with a paranoid complex becomes -domi- nated by the desire to master, and makes the political world the scene _of his activities, the result is the dic- tator. - The psychologist does not have to search far to find the grievance com- plex in Hitler’s mental make-up. It rides him like a fury. Beginning pos- sibly as an under-dog frustration in a youthful rebellion for recognition, it is now expressed as a blind rage, 2 ruthless onslaught, as if the only form f rs. 7 ee Ce EE aes dG i is of expression open to his paranoid mind were hate. His complex has Jed him, now that he is in power, to perse- cute Jews, burn books, torture objec tors in concentration camps. His dis- torted ego disregards history, banishes learning, makes women eervile race- bearers for his cause, dispossesses re- -ligion, reviles all other nations and ideals with fish-wife scurrility, purges and suppresses all opposition. The edicts which Hitler has issued while in power would serve as protocols of paranoia. Hitler lives in a paranoid world not unlike the dream of many a patient in an asylum, but which has come into existence for causes over which historians will debate long after the Hitlerian catastrophe has gone the way of all delusion. To me it seems that without ound of armed force, the unwisdom of Versailles, the collapse of deliberation at the oF of Nations, the paranoid world o Hitler would have been impossible. T exist, dictatorship must destroy fr dom and build up fear and force. It is only by an accident of history that the “Aryan” myth and Nordic nonsense was inherited from pre-War Germany. The delusions of Teutonic superiority were developed in prepara- tion for Der Teg of 1914. They grew out of a thesis advanced by an eccen- tric French literateur, Gobineau. In The Inequality of Human Races, Gobineau set forth the notion that the Teuton was the supreme race. The greatness of Leonardo, Michelangelo and a host of others he, declared was due to the fact that Teutonic blood flowed in their veins. The “Aryan” cult was further developed by a rene- gade Englishman, Houston Chamber- . fain, son-in-law of Richard Wagner. And this literature of “political anthropology” flourished from 1910. ~ to 1918, years during which learning/” was highly regarded in Germany{ The popularity of the work | of Gobineau and Chamberlain and others Hlustrates the ideological gullibility - of the German people. Moro-zealistic a” nny . -. 1 Sapegis e va Bee a alae EH: PENS